Caribbean Adventure: Enjoying The Beach In The Bahamas

The second day into our cruise was a huge improvement over the first.

I was excited about porting in Cococay, Bahamas, the Royal Caribbean's privately owned island. This was one of the locations that was on our original itinerary and ship's route. The captain announced early that morning, in so many words, that we would be able to go to that planned destination and still escape the clutches of Hurricane Earl.

Darn it. I wanted to experience what it would be like to have a ship of 3, 634 people capsize in the ocean. What fun!

The captain further explained through notifications on our TV and over loudspeakers that we would be travelling to other islands in the Western Caribbean, in order to avoid the category 4 hurricane. Instead of going to St. Thomas and St. Maarten, we would be going to the Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico.

Thankfully, we were quickly reimbursed, monetarily, for the excursions we had planned and paid for on St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Otherwise, I would have been plenty pissed.

When we got to Cococay, Bahamas, I took several pictures of the beach at Cococay, Bahamas. I couldn't resist. The beach and the blue-green waters were beautiful. I wish I was there right now, really.

At the beginning, we did our preplanned excursions on Cococay, which included going down a 40 foot water slide and using the floating beach mats. The 40 foot high water slide was a little fun for me. Not so much for the wife. Because of the lack of water going down the slide and the fact that she was the first one to try it out, she only made it halfway down. She, I and others would probably had made it down the full length of the slide if they didn't have just one dude at the top of the slide, using a low-pressure garden hose, for the water supply.

It was kind of pathetic.

But the rest of the time, we had a lot of fun, meeting new people from around the world and just relaxing on the beach. There were moments I had of pure unadulterated peace. Finally.

We allowed the waves to splash over our bodies, enjoyed the soft sand and became one with the ocean. It all seemed very surreal, as if we had just been dropped into the middle of paradise. The sun, which came out every so often from out of the clouds, warmed our skin and encouraged everyone to enjoy the multitude of activities you could engage in, such as para-sailing and riding jet skis. In the distance, we witnessed a storm likely fueled by the hurricane but the overwhelming serenity and beauty of the Bahamas swept any fears we had away.

Hours later, we came back to our ship, ate at the Johnny Rockets restaurant and walked along the Promenade. Then, while my wife wasn't looking, I, being the sneaky bastard I am, secretly booked a couples massage for us at the spa. This turned out to be a very happy surprise for her. She has always wanted to enjoy a professional massage.

As we lay on the tables, beside each other, two petite Japanese women did all manner of wonderful things to our bodies. No, you assuming pervert, they did not perform fellatio on me or stroke my meat kabob! That would have been nice, though. And it could have happened, pretty easily, since they put warm, moist towels over our eyes before they began. My wife wouldn't have known unless I groaned out loud. Hell, I'm getting a woody just thinking about it.

Instead, the knowledgeable masseuses used warm scented oils all over our bodies and squeezed and rubbed until we were so relaxed, we nearly feel asleep. They were experts and they used every trick in their book to relieve any tensions we might had had earlier. It was the perfect way to end our pleasurable day.

We were really beginning to enjoy our adventure.